Towards the latter part of April, the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) in accordance with the BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) decided to conduct a serological survey of residents located in Mumbai’s containment zones. Homes were chosen randomly for these serosurveys. Well, the authorities have now decided to ramp up serological surveys across the city to get a better idea of the spread of the virus in hotspots across the metropolitan region.
One of the quickest ways of ascertaining the level and magnitude of the coronavirus spread is to test patients who are asymptomatic. However, the country’s health infrastructure is such that tests are not easy to come by, and several states are only testing symptomatic patients by default. This is where an antibody test can be utilized as it can help identify if blood samples contain COVID-19 antibodies, a good sign that a person has caught the virus and successfully fought it off.
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Officials from the BMC have mentioned that the first round of serological surveys had 500 samples collected from designated hotspots like Dharavi, Kurla, Kandivli, Govandi, and so on. The results of these 500 samples are currently awaited, while the authorities will reportedly conduct a second round of serological surveillance with more patients.
Daksha Shah, Deputy Executive Officer of the BMC said that there’s currently no clarity on which areas will be included in the next round of serosurveys. Though she added that scientific parameters will be used to judge the quantum of the samples collected as well as the locations.
Maharashtra touched a grim figure on June 1 by crossing 65,000 COVID-19 active cases across the state. Mumbai’s number currently stands at 38,442, which is by far the highest in a single city of the country.
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